Pinata Protest
By:  Michael Valdes


  At home or on the road, life on stage over the last couple of years has been pretty good for "Pinata Protest."  "San Antonio has never let us down," says Alvaro Del Norte.  "Our hometown is always good to us."
  And during a recent homecoming, it was a packed house of Pinata fans there to greet them.  "I still get nervous before every show, says Marcus Cazares.  "I dry heave.  That's even here in town."
  "To me, going to shows when I was younger was my favorite thing in the whole world," says Del Norte.  "It was a release and it was everything to me."  Marcus adds, "We grew up wanting to be in a band and traveling and hitting the road.  And now to actually be doing it... You just kind of want to pinch yourself.  Is this real?"
  Oh, it's real and it has "Pinata Protest" really busy.  Crossing the country bringing their fusion of Conjunto-Punk with some South Texas rock.  And winning over crowds one raucous gig after another.
  "It's great... It's great," says Del Norte.  "We are up there and I break out my accordian and people are like "What the...?"  And then we just blow their minds."  Matthew Cazares adds, "We know we have something different.  Whether or not people are going to like it or not, it is something unexpected."
  "Now people come out wearing our shirts and knowing the lyrics to our songs," says drummer J.J. Martinez.  Del Norte adds with a laugh, "It's great.  Especially when I forget the lyrics.  It's nice to have someone to sing along who knows them."
  And now the music business is getting to know them, as well.  The hard work and hard miles have landed the band a manager, a booking agent, and a chance to get back in the studio.  All things they used to do themselves out of the back of a van.  "It just feels like we are starting all over again," says Matthew Cazares.
  Now the band can look forward to letting their music do the talking.  Knowing, from experience, that the long road may not always lead to the top, but it will always bring them home.
  "It just has gone longer and gotten bigger than any of us really thought," says Martinez.  "If it wasn't for the fans here at home supporting us like they have for the past six years as a band... We wouldn't be where we are at right now," says Cazares.
 On January fifth, Pinata Protest will be part of a big show marking the thirty-fifth anniversary of when the Sex Pistols played here in San Antonio.
  They hope to release their latest album early next year, as well.
Pinata Protest